Radio Drama Codes and Conventions

Codes

Sound & Silence Silence is very effective in radio dramas, if used well it can cause dramatic effect. It can also change the scenes. Also with silence a listener doesn’t want to listen to, to much constant dialogue. It is useful to create suspense in a radio drama. It Is also useful to show the end of a scene and the start of a new one, also it can be used for a change in location. However if overused this can become tedious and boring, also you don’t want to have a too long break or the audience will get bored.

Speech The way people speak, this can be anything from the pitch and tone to the way they speak. It can be a very useful device as if you for example speak in accent it can give the listener an idea of where it is set, for example in North of Riga the accents you hear are Irish which automatically makes the user think that there in Ireland. However with this technique it may not always be true, for example an Irish person might not necessarily live in Ireland and might live in Africa for all we know.

Words & Voices Due to the fact that there isn't any visual, there isn't another way for the producers to keep the attention of the listener. There is a heavy alliance on the words as it has to evoke emotions and interest to the viewer. It is very important part of radio drama as if you sound like your just reading it off a script it wont sound professional and people will just picture you in a studio.

Music & Ambience This is used to set the scene as without any visual you need to hear clues as to where the scene is, for example at a hospital you can hear the flat line beeping. This is very useful when making a radio drama as it can cause great affect and it can also show where the scene is set very well, like for example what I mentioned earlier about the hospital. The only negative thing id say about this is if the sounds aren't professional it can make the production sound very mediocre.

Conventions

Narration & direct speech As your not able to visually see the production a narrator is good at explaining what's happening and giving us a good idea. They can quickly provide information which would otherwise slow down the production. It is very useful for providing information to the listener and can be done nice and quick and it can also clear up confusion and make it easier for the viewer to understand the story. It can make the story jolty and not very smooth.

Aural signposting This is setting the location of the scene using sound like accents and noises in the background. For example traffic if you were outside by a road in the scene you would hear the traffic going past to help you visualize the scene. Also an example for an accent would be in north of Riga you can straight away tell where it is set by the Irish accents and can see where the scene is as you can hear the sea and seagulls.

Titles & Credits This can be used to show the end of the programmed as you wouldn't just want it to go to silence and you'd also want to credit the cast who worked hard on the production. It is simply a list of the cast and the key people involved in the production.

Use of fades & silence This is normally used to show the end of a scene or change in location. It can also be used to show time difference, it’s a tool to keep the listener as engrossed as possible. A good example would be in the production there has been a scene and it was going to involve the same people that were in the first scene a use of silence will explain to the viewer that time has passed and its later in the day.

Cliffhanger endings This is the way you end the drama, if you leave the ending open and interesting people will want to listen to the next episode. It is a very good technique as if it ends really well and interesting the listener will make sure that they listen to the next episode or series to make sure they find out what happens which will increase the listeners. For example soap radio drama often uses these like the archers did when a character fell off the roof they didn’t let you know what happened all you could hear was noise and a thump and they didn’t explain what happened which made the listener want to tune in to find out what happened.

Styles

Dramatic reconstruction This is creating scenes with sound for example making a scene more dramatic through sound or narrative or many other different types of narrative for example having an angry or distressed voice over a calm and quiet one as it will have more effect.

Appropriateness to target audience This is key to making your radio drama as if you can detect your target audience you can then make your drama in that style. For example if your target audience was a younger generation you'd use language that would make sense to them maybe even some slang. Where as if you were aiming for an older generation you wouldn’t use slang and you would use words that appeal to them and they can understand.

Radio drama styles Traditional- This normally a strong storyline which will have a narrator and many characters. There is normally a problem or dilemma which the story is based around. Adaption- This where a script writer will take an idea from another performance and adapt it to suit the audience. Soap- A bit like kitchen sink but it normally will involve danger and exciting plots. Post-Modern- Unlike traditional dramas this one doesn’t answer the questions it gets the audience to answer them there self. Kitchen sink- Based around a family in there home.

Creation of mood or location The creation of the mood or location can be done in many different ways mainly using music. For example it can enhance the effect of the situations as you can create tension and scare. If something bad was going to happen it would set the mood by playing quick scary music maybe on a piano.

Structures

Duration The typical duration for a soap is 10-15 minutes, The Archers has a running time of 12 minutes. The running time of a horror or thriller will vary from half an hour to an hour. North of Riga is a 41 minute radio drama which is a good example of this. Soaps normally aren't that long so that they can drag the story out and make more episodes. The thriller and horror dramas aren't no longer than an hour as the listener would get bored.

Narrative structure This is the storyline. There is linear and non- linear, linear is where it has a start a middle and an end and goes in chronological order. Non- linear is where they have flashbacks and it doesn’t go in chronological order.

Development of plot Development of plot is the way in which the story develops, in a soap the story would develop over weeks or months where as with a stand alone the story would develop within the hour. The reason why the soap is like this is because the episodes are short and they can stretch them out to keep the listener interested. With stand alone as the episodes are longer they can put it all into one and they don’t normally have sequels.